My Dell computer

that is frustrating! Call Dell and see what they reccommend. You can call at anytime, if you call at Midnight you might get an operator in Malasia. I know - I have a Dell myself.

Also I've heard it might have to do with the provider. Perhaps call them as well and see what they reccommend.

Our site seems to be having problems of its own, so I hope that you'll get this.

As a short explanation, a virus is a program that somebody puts on your computer to make your life miserable. Just like chicken pox, you get them when you expose yourself (well, not like getting naked) to emails from people you don't know. Spyware is software that tracks what you do on the computer and/or checks out what you have installed. A firewall is either a physical piece of hardware or a software application that doesn't let bad messages into your pc.

I wouldn't, and I wouldn't recommend, loading Vista. It's the worst idea Microsoft has had since Bob.

Disconnect from your internet connection, and back up the data you want to keep (i.e. photos, letters you've written, etc.) to either a CD or a thumb drive. Install Windows XP, and then the rest of the software you have. If you need a little more help, let me know.

You may also try Windows defender, You can download it for free on microsoft, it seems to work for me. I had a trojan virus and downloaded the defender and it cleared it out for me. Good luck.

Mom of a beautiful 4 year old daughter!

~~~In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back.~~~~~~

This is why we now have a MAC now. I am not ignorant and i know there are viruses out there for MAC, so we have our "protection" set up. I also know that the hackers are constantly working to get in to as many machines as possible. When our PC got hacked, it was kind of scary and my husband is one of those guys that actually knows a little more than the average joe when it comes to computers. We are very careful what links we click on in email and if an email comes through that is not in my address book. It goes straight to junk mail and i never see it.

We still have a PC, but rarely connect it to the internet. Seems that since Microsoft is the #1 PC software, thats what the hackers attack most.

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.
~ Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

It's hard to give you solid advice without seeing what is on your computer. But something that is safe AND free is spyware software. It help clean up all the pop-up stuff, cookies that websites use for tracking, and fishing software that is unknowingly downloaded into your computer.

You can try downloading this free ware if you want before purchasing something... You can go to downloads.com and do a search for Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6. Try Installing this and run it weekly. (read up on the information on this software before installing so you know how to run it...Its pretty easy though...)